The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

415

© Amitabha Gupta, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

The Battle of Plassey by Hari Chahan Das

Before Siraj ud-Daulah became Nawab of Bengal in 1756, his grandfather begged him to keep the English sweet, and put no trust in Jafar Ali Khan. If he had only listened...

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416

© Шухрат Саъдиев (Shukhrat Sadiev), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Conqueror Has No Friends by Quintus Curtius Rufus

When Alexander the Great threatened the people of Scythia, their ambassadors reminded him that a conqueror has many more burdens to carry than an ally has.

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417

© Sergio bellavista, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Caesar Crosses the Rubicon by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

When Julius Caesar defied the Senate’s explicit order to resign his military command, he knew there could be no turning back.

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418

© Anupamg, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.

The Desolation of Delhi by Ziauddin Barani

In 1327, Mohammad bin Tughluq gave every man, woman and child in Delhi just three days’ notice to quit.

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419

© Hermann Luyken, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain

Sunspots and Wheat Prices by James Sime

William Herschel showed that variations in the brightness of the sun were causing climate change, but hardly anyone believed him.

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420

By Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Jane Seymour by Thomas Fuller

It was a bitter moment for Anne Boleyn when she saw that what she herself had done to poor Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour was about to do to her.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 1 NS

April 18 OS

Flying Scotsman : In 1928, a train service linking London and Edinburgh became the world’s longest non-stop run.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
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